The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Did you know...
that nobody but Wombat notices what is in the News Box?

Pages: 1 2 3 [4]   Go Down

Author Topic: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane  (Read 8438 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

MattFish

  • Lie Bot
  • Tiny cans of Dr Pepper: 43
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 371
  • A perch with a cramp / Half-pound ahi burger
    • View Profile
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #45 on: October 16, 2006, 03:29:29 am »
when I read "alot", I hear it pronounced in my head like the word "shallot". Or maybe "aloe".
Logged
I finally found a nice picture of a giraffe

Choop

  • Mod Squad
  • LAZARUS, Tasseled Loafer of the Powerful
  • Tiny cans of Dr Pepper: 1010
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 4260
  • www dot at rick and morty dot com www
    • View Profile
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #46 on: October 16, 2006, 03:58:39 am »
Wombat, you've quaked my grammar earth just now.

I've always been a prescriptivist. The tale you related has me damning the prescriptivists to hell. To HELL!

Oh. Oh... oh shit. I think I've got something.

Yeah: Those 18-th century grammarians weren't prescriptive at all - they were scriptive. Except, no, that doesn't fit, they were scriptivving what had never been scriptivved before. So they were subtracting -- subtractive? Ooh- subscriptive!

Okay, I can still be prescriptive -- whew -- just not toward patterns that predate someone writing down the patterns.
Logged
Nobody exists on purpose; nobody belongs anywhere; everybody's gonna die. Come watch TV?

AugustWest

  • Over Easy
  • Moderator
  • Dude since Knucklehead times
  • *
  • Tiny cans of Dr Pepper: 774
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 10549
  • Bulbous, also tapered.
    • View Profile
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #47 on: October 16, 2006, 04:30:17 am »
Macro-linguistically, I'm a descriptivist.  Micro-linguistically, I'm a prescriptivist.

Does that make any sense?

I think that languages, lexicons and grammars change over time.  However at any one given time I think we can take a snapshot (OK, a blurry, approximate snapshot) of the state of our language.  I think it's important to try to use our language well.  Doing so require compliance with recieved language rules, such as they are.

Yes, language is constantly evolving and changing.  Good for it.  But the long-term growth and evolution of language should not excuse lazy or sloppy erudition.
Logged
Infinitely vast, infinitely detailed.

theinevitable

  • Writer's Workshoppers
  • Dude since Knucklehead times
  • *
  • Tiny cans of Dr Pepper: 486
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 12139
    • View Profile
    • tweet tweet fun fun
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #48 on: October 16, 2006, 04:44:18 am »
for real. I mean, isn't it cool to be able to use language precisely? there is nothing cool about being sloppy.

ironically, I am misappropriating the word Cool, which is far overused in our English today.
Logged
Social pressures exist
And if you think about them all of the time
You're gonna find that your head's been kicked in
You're gonna do it all for the grind

Ben-San

  • -=Ray=-
  • Tiny cans of Dr Pepper: 164
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1259
  • Two-Fisted Detective
    • View Profile
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #49 on: October 16, 2006, 06:34:59 am »
Quote from: AugustWest on October 16, 2006, 04:30:17 am
Yes, language is constantly evolving and changing.  Good for it.  But the long-term growth and evolution of language should not excuse lazy or sloppy erudition.

Next you're going to claim the evolution of species doesn't somehow justify my walking up to people and kicking them in the grill. This is a slippery philosophical slope and I've seen it before.
Logged

wombat

  • English-Speaking Pizza
  • Mod Squad
  • Dude since Knucklehead times
  • *
  • Tiny cans of Dr Pepper: 644
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12493
  • Yeah man, these are pugs, not some fuck*ng lolcat.
    • View Profile
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #50 on: October 16, 2006, 12:15:25 pm »
Sure, we should try to use language clearly, precisely, and beautifully.  But if you think you get there via a handful of arbitrary rules that only apply to a tiny percentage of sentences anyway, well, good luck with that, you know?
Logged
What is this, the fuckin' Algonquin Round Table or some shit?  - Nabu

If you're going to change your life then you have to change it every day, not just the days the world isn't taking a shit on you. -Doc

Bobby Isosceles

  • Guest
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #51 on: October 16, 2006, 01:52:35 pm »
01010100 01001000 01000101 00100000 01010101 01001110 01001001 01010110 01000101 01010010
01010011 01000001 01001100 00100000 01001100 01000001 01001110 01000111 01010101 01000001
01000111 01000101 00100000 01001001 01010011 00100000 01001100 01001111 01010110 01000101
00100000 00101000 01000001 01001110 01000100 00100000 01000001 01001100 01010011 01001111
00100000 01000010 01001001 01001110 01000001 01010010 01011001 00101001
Logged

AugustWest

  • Over Easy
  • Moderator
  • Dude since Knucklehead times
  • *
  • Tiny cans of Dr Pepper: 774
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 10549
  • Bulbous, also tapered.
    • View Profile
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #52 on: October 16, 2006, 02:03:11 pm »
Quote from: wombat on October 16, 2006, 12:15:25 pm
Sure, we should try to use language clearly, precisely, and beautifully.  But if you think you get there via a handful of arbitrary rules that only apply to a tiny percentage of sentences anyway, well, good luck with that, you know?

S' all good, babe.
Logged
Infinitely vast, infinitely detailed.

theinevitable

  • Writer's Workshoppers
  • Dude since Knucklehead times
  • *
  • Tiny cans of Dr Pepper: 486
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 12139
    • View Profile
    • tweet tweet fun fun
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #53 on: October 16, 2006, 06:27:08 pm »
oh, bobby, you are such a cutie.
Logged
Social pressures exist
And if you think about them all of the time
You're gonna find that your head's been kicked in
You're gonna do it all for the grind

Drastic Action

  • Chucklebot
  • Tiny cans of Dr Pepper: 29
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 194
  • Zounds!
    • View Profile
    • Stuff
Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #54 on: October 16, 2006, 07:46:26 pm »
001100000011000100110000001100010011000 000110000001100010011000000110000001100 010011000000110000001100010011000100110 001001100010011000000110001001100000011 000000110000001100010011000100110000001 100000011000100110000001100000011000100 1100010011000000110000
Logged
~
Pages: 1 2 3 [4]   Go Up
« previous next »